Declaimer: Okay, I'm happy again. Basically, everything will be hunky dory if they make another movie, the world will be complete!
Who cares if I don't own it?
Seventh Bit.
Three days later Al found himself in Spain, hoping more than he had ever hoped that he had gotten there with time to spare. He wasn't about to waste any time either.
He practically jogged to every boarding house, in the town. He was having some problems though, because he didn't speak the language. And looking for someone without being able to ask the people around him, just made things all the more difficult.
After a few hours he started to feel like a stalker, peering through windows, waiting around outside of Inn's, hoping he might see Noah or some tall man, anything to let him know he was on the right track. He was starting to wish he had asked the woman in the ticket booth what the man had looked like that had been with Noah.
It was getting darker, and Al had yet to find anything. He figured he had at least another day to search though, and if not, he would just have to jump on the boat to Morocco, and chase them across Africa. He didn't really have the money for that though.
Al fished around in his pockets and found that he only really had enough money for something small to eat. He didn't really need to know a language to ask for something to eat, wasn't that universal?
He walked into a bar nervously; it was the only place open this late, and he hoped they had food.
He sat down at the bar and looked around himself, feeling very much like a mouse surrounded by cats, just waiting for someone to pounce on him. Why he felt that way, he didn't really know, but he decided to blame it on culture shock.
"Excuse me?" He lifted a hand to the bartender.
The man walked over, looking too tired to handle charades at the moment.
Al placed his money down on the table, and gestured eating soup. The man nodded and walked off.
Al let his shoulders fall forward, and let his situation sink in. He was in Spain… Spain! Looking for a needle in a haystack.
A man down the bar from him lifted his glass, "Thought I'd never meet another guy who spoke my language in here!" He laughed.
Al smiled, grateful to hear any words he could understand, "Same here."
The man got up and moved to the chair next to Al, "So, what're you doing in Spain?"
Al shrugged, "I don't really know."
The man nodded, "I hear you, that seems to be everyone's problem, doesn't it? No body knows what they're doing anymore…"
Well he knew what he was doing; he just didn't know how to go about doing it, "Yeah."
"Well," The man heaved a sigh and set down his empty glass, "It's getting late. Listen, if you need any answers, I might be able to help you. If you're into… alternative help that is." The man winked.
Al frowned, "what?"
The man leaned over and whispered behind his hand, "For a price, I have a fortune teller talented enough to answer your questions."
Al tried to keep his eyes from widening… Noah. He nodded discreetly to the man and grabbed his money. Soup would have to wait.
Al followed the man through the night streets to a small Inn he had waited outside of earlier that day. He took him upstairs to a corner room and sat him down in an uncomfortable chair in what seemed like the only area in the room other than the bathroom.
The man walked to the bathroom door and brought out a key to unlock it. A moment later he came out holding Noah in front of him by her arm. Her head was down, and she looked tired and weak.
When she looked up she couldn't help herself from going rigid with shock.
Al couldn't help himself from blurting out her name, as if to reassure himself she wasn't just his imagination.
The man looked between them, slowly starting to grasp what was happening, he jerked Noah's arm so she would look at him, "You know him?"
She bit her lip; she wasn't about to say anything.
The man opened the door to the bathroom again and threw her in, he then stormed up to Al, "I don't—"
Al's hand flew up on its own accord and punched the guy before his brain even realized what it had done. The man slumped to the floor, unable to finish his sentence.
Al shook the pain out of his hand from such a powerful blow, and ran to the bathroom door. The man must have locked the door quickly; Al kicked it open and heard a little peep of surprise from Noah.
"What are you doing here!" She sounded scared.
"Looking for you!" she didn't even look grateful!
Her eyes welled up with tears and she ran to him, holding him as tight as she could.
Surprised from the change in mood, Al really didn't know how to react.
"Where's Ed?" She blinked away the wetness from her eyes.
Al deflated, he had spent three days on a train worrying about her, he had just decked some guy he didn't even know, and she was asking about Ed? Figures.
"He had something else he had to do."
"Oh." She looked down, and then something started to dawn on her. She looked back up at Al, being this close to him; she felt something she had been too distracted to feel before, "Oh!" She let go of him and backed away, "I didn't know…" she rubbed her arms.
"Yeah…" Damned psychics, he was feeling really embarrassed now.
She smiled to the floor, why had she never noticed that before? Had she really been so preoccupied with her thoughts on Ed not to feel Al's emotions? She looked up at him, "I'm ready to go home now."
"Me too… but I only have about enough money for half a ticket to the next town."
She smiled slyly, "I bet he has some money," She nodded towards the man on the floor who was just starting to moan himself back into consciousness.
"Should I bring out the letters or the pictures today?" Edward asked Winry as brightly as the last two days, while he served her a steaming cup of bland tea.
Winry stirred her tea, she was tired of all this. She had read dozens of letters she had apparently written to Edward a few years ago, and even more he had written to her. She had shuffled through a few brown and white pictures of herself and Edward together at various parties, and family reunions. Nothing was helping her memory, but it seemed to make Edward happy.
She didn't feel like reading though, "I think the pictures will be fine…" she couldn't take anymore of those letters anyways, they were all so full of love she didn't feel, she could hardly stomach it.
Edward appeared at her side with a small box, and started spreading out the pictures on the table, "This one…" He held up a small one of them holding each other in a dance, "I think this was at the spring festival last May, you were mad at me because I had you try shrimp… you were right though," He laughed, "You didn't like it."
Out of habit, a smile played across her face. Winry skimmed her hand across the various pictures, and traced the lines on one from six years ago; her hair had been long then. Winry's fingers traced the lines of her long braided hair; she liked it.
Edward shook his head, "I never understood why you cut it… just out of the blue one day you get up and cut it, saying something about putting the past behind you."
Nothing Edward said ever sounded right. She didn't feel like the kind of person that would want to forget the past, she felt that the past was important, even though she couldn't remember it at the moment; it was something to hold on to.
She let herself get distracted by the swirling of her tea for a while as she dwelled in her feelings.
Edward watched her for a moment before making up his mind, "Maybe we should go out today. It would be good for you to walk around town, you might see something you remember."
Winry didn't reply, she didn't feel like it was worth doing anything, but Edward was going to drag her outside whether she liked it or not.
"No, no! It's fold, fold, knead, roll. Not fold, roll, knead, fold!"
Ed felt like throwing the dough out the window at this point, it would be easier than actually preparing it for the oven, and people would probably be just as happy.
He smiled at the angry little woman at his side and repeated the kneading process until she was satisfied enough to walk away.
Ed didn't get it. It seemed like a hammer would accomplish the same thing at this point, and why was it that every bread had some different way of kneading it? Not for the first or last time, Ed questioned why he had decided to get a job at the bakery. It didn't help that he had had a headache perpetually for the past three days; he figured it was because of the 'Feeling', it still hadn't gone away, but he wasn't really sure if he wanted to find the source of it just yet. At least that was his excuse for not having a clue where to start. It wasn't as if he could just walk around town figuring out where it was the strongest, because it was just everywhere, no matter where he went it was never stronger or weaker than before.
Ed threw a ball of dough into a pan and chucked it in the stove. He hoped Al was having better luck in finding what he was looking for.
"So, what would you like m'lady?" Al tried an English accent and failed.
Noah giggled and answered in her own poor accent, as she peered over a menu "I believe, good sir, that I will be having the roast chicken breast,"
They both broke out in snickering laughter. They had ended up finding enough money for not only two full train tickets back to Rome, but at least four first class meals and anything else they wanted to eat along the way.
A young man came and took their orders, and left them to wait in the dining cart.
Al folded his hands on the table and took on a more serious attitude, "You still haven't told me what happened…"
Noah sighed.
"If you don't feel like telling me just yet, that's okay too," he looked down.
"No, you should know." Noah took on the distant look she usually wore when she was remembering something, "I was on a busy shop street, just finishing a ballad, when a woman came up to give me a few coins, I told her that she was pregnant. She was so happy, telling me she had been trying to have children for years." She paused for a long moment, "It was strange, but once everyone cleared away and I finish collecting, I hardly had time to open my mouth for another song before I felt a knife at my throat. That man you saw earlier, he told me if I was quiet and came with him, he wouldn't hurt me. No one took any notice of what was happening, so I really didn't have a choice. After he took me, I kept trying to find a time I could get away, but I hadn't eaten anything, and he wasn't about to feed me… I was just to weak to do anything." She smiled, "I'm glade you came for me…"
Al couldn't help but feel bad, "I'm sorry,"
"For what? It wasn't your fault."
"Ed and I shouldn't let you perform in the streets alone, it just isn't safe…" it was stupid is what it was.
She smiled again, "Well I'm fine now, and about to eat a wonderful meal. Seems to me that everything worked out."
Al could hardly take how she was looking on the bright side, but decided it was because she wanted to change the subject, and he wasn't going to stop her.
Later, in their own cabin, Al tilted his head against the window with a yawn, and Noah nodded off next to him.
"Maybe we should give ourselves different names… just until we reach Rome. And keep people away that might be looking for us" Al mused in a whisper.
Noah stretched and laughed light, "Something to match our accents?"
Al snorted, "Nothing matches our accent."
Noah yawned and curled up on the seat until she could rest her head on one of Al's legs, "I think I'll be Mrs. Connelly…" She closed her eyes and took a tired breath.
Al smiled, "Perhaps I should be Mr. Shillington then,"
"Mr. Connelly…" Noah mumbled so quietly at the verge of sleep that Al hardly caught what she said.
Hardly. He smiled. Mr. Connelly it is.
"Mr. Connelly?" Noah piped in an exhausted accent.
Al looked up from nearly walking on all fours, "Yes Mrs. Connelly?"
"If I might ask… how long to you believe it has been since we started walking this road?" she managed to moan every word.
Al looked up to the sun and blinked, "Three hours… give or take."
"And Mr. Connelly, how many carts have gone by since then?"
"None," Al whimpered.
She looked down, "oh… good than, I was hoping I wasn't going mad."
They had only been a town away from where they needed to go, when they realized that they might have had one too many steaks over the past two days. Now they were tired, hot, and walking down some deserted road in the middle of nowhere, hoping they were heading in the right direction.
Noah sighed and tried to straighten her back, "Do you think Ed's found what he was looking for?"
Al shrugged, "He never does, it seems like he's been looking for something my entire life."
Noah closed her eyes and smiled into the sun, "what do you think will happen if he never finds anything?"
"Eh… he'll live with it, he usually does. You just kind of get used to—" Al stopped as Noah fell flat on her face next to him. He jumped to her side in a moment, with all the energy of someone who hadn't just walked ten miles on an empty stomach. "Are you alright?"
Noah started laughing, "I'm fine. Just remind me not to walk with my eyes closed again…"
He joined in her good humor; it was nice to have something to laugh about.
Noah rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes again, "Lets rest for a minute."
Al heaved a weary breath with the idea, it sounded fantastic. He lay down in the middle of the road with her, and mimicked her posture; eyes closed, hands on his stomach. They stayed that way in silence for a while.
"You asleep?" Noah whispered.
"Mmmhmm"
"Me too…" She yawned.
"Do we have to get up?"
Noah wasted a shrug, "I was going to ask that."
There was another long pause.
"Do you hear that?" Noah spoke near to sleep.
"Sounds like wheels…" Al grumbled.
Pause.
"Would that mean there's a car coming?"
Al nodded, "Most likely."
"Shouldn't we get up?"
"Depends… if they run us over they may feel bad enough to give us a ride, if we get out of the way they might not see us." Al tried to figure out what would be better, and wondered about the odds of there being another car coming this way within the day.
"Do you think it's a big car?" Noah asked with reason.
"Eh…"
They waited as the sound grew louder.
Al grabbed Noah and rolled over until they were a tangled, laughing heap on the side of the road.
Noah looked up from Al's stomach and watched a farm car go by towing an open trailer with sheep. She scrambled up off of Al, and started running.
"I think we can catch it!" She yelled behind her as Al hurriedly tried to catch up.
Once he reached her, he grabbed her wrist and started pulling her forward a little fast.
They reached the back of the trailer in a few seconds and Al jumped up, dragging Noah up behind him. He fell backwards with the accelerated weight, and started to cough out his laughter as Noah stumbled over him and fell as well.
They couldn't seem to stop themselves laughing as a few sheep started to nibble at their clothes.
Noah rolled over to face Al, "Well Mr. Connelly… I think we did pretty good, what do you think?" she scrunched up her nose as she caught a whiff of a very distinct sheep smell.
Al mimicked her expression, "Better than my idea," he said cheerily.
"I rather enjoy not being road kill."
They broke out in another bought of laughter; at least until Noah was interrupted by a particularly offended sheep… she happened to be lying on the best patch of hay. She slid closer to Al in order to get out of its way.
"Hope you don't mind if I share your space, seems like we're intruding on lunch"
Al blushed, "It's just fine…"
Noah nodded nervously, picking up on the feelings of how 'fine' it really was.
"Marline!"
"What?"
Noah blinked and tried to focus on the face of a bearded man looming in front of her.
"Looks like two of our sheep have gone and turned into humans."
Al groaned and caught the sound of shuffling feet over gravel.
"I'll be damned! How do you think they got in there?" A round-faced woman leaned down to get a better look.
"Haven't got the faintest idea. How much do you think we could get for them in the market?"
The woman slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't be ridiculous. It didn't cost us anything to give them a ride… we won't go bothering with yelling at them." It sounded like she was reading her husbands mind, you could tell by the way his face fell and grumbled about when someone used something of yours without telling you was a perfect time to bother with some yelling.
Noah was still trying to get her head out of dream, when Al's voiced seemed to vibrate just under her head.
"Where are we?"
Noah blinked a few more times until she came to the conclusion that she was lying on Al. Oh dear… She tried to slowly move off of him without drawing much attention to herself.
She watched the mans mouth drop, and open and close a few times before he spat out his next words, "No respect! Not even a thank you!"
The woman with him hushed him, "We're about 10 miles outside of Rome. It's a market day so we're going to sell a few of our sheep. If you're going to there, you're going to get off here, we're going to a different town."
Al worked his way up and out of the trailer, and helped Noah out as well. He beamed at the couple, "Thanks for the ride!"
The old man narrowed his eyes, "Any time." Meaning if he ever saw them in his trailer uninvited again he would be selling them in the market with the rest of his livestock.
Al and Noah both walked away like crabs, nervously trying to be polite. When they felt they were far enough away, they broke into a run; slowing down only once they reached the road they would be traveling on.
Al decided to break 10 minutes of silence, "I don't know about you, but I would take that over a train any day…"
Noah tried to keep herself from smiling, and bit her lips. Which only made her snort.
"Should it really be this dark already?" Noah looked up to the grey sky.
Al Squinted, "We've been walking for a while, it's should be late… but." He squinted more, "Do those look like rain clouds to you?"
On cue the sky opened up with a gurgle of thunder before letting out a sea's worth of cold rain.
With their hair already plated to their foreheads, they both shrugged before running for cover on the side of a small cabin by the side of the road. The roof overhang wasn't much, but it kept most of the wet away.
A few minutes later Noah started to shake with cold, and Al started to rub her arms. With his jacket he had kept dryer, but all Noah had was a thin shawl, a white spring shirt, and a skirt.
She started to sniff and looked down, "I'm becoming more trouble than I'm worth…" She laughed mirthlessly.
Al stopped rubbing her arms but kept his hands where they were, "What are you talking about?" he lifted his brow.
She didn't want to look at him, "I've cost you all of your money, and I've sent you on an exhausting trip trying to get me back home. That's not including when I made you come to Rome."
He shook her a little to straighten her up and make her look at him, "All of those things have been completely my own decisions. If you weren't worth it, I wouldn't have spent the money, and I wouldn't have come."
She rolled her eyes, "That's just your misdirected loyalty talking, no one does things like that for me unless they have to."
Al shook his head, "No it isn't."
She shook her own head.
"It isn't."
She sighed
Al heaved his own exhausted sigh; it was like arguing with a wall, the only thing that ever got its attention was a demolition ball.
Al leaned in and kissed her softly.
Noah went completely rigid, as Al's emotions flooded into her. Once she processed all of them, she couldn't stop herself from returning the gesture.
With the permission Al deepened the kiss until she was basically pinned to the wall.
"Ahem…"
Both Al and Noah jumped noticeably, and detached themselves as quickly as they could, trying to look as nonchalant as they good. Blushing as much as they were, it really didn't matter much.
They starred embarrassedly at the feet of a woman who looked about 30, with long black hair, and an amused smile.
"I was going to offer you a place out of the rain, but you seem to be fine."
Al rubbed the back of his head, "Well… I think… I mean—"
"A place to stay would be wonderful!" Noah chocked gratefully.
The woman nodded and laughed lightly as she turned around, "Follow me, I was just finishing up some soup for the weather. Your welcomed to have some."
They followed quietly. Still quite distracted by the moment before.
A/N YEEeeesss! The BEST chapter yet! At least in my opinion... because it was SOOO fun to write.